Happy Celiac Awareness Month!

So this month is Celiac Disease Awareness Month--which actually encompasses all that is Celiac, gluten intolerance, and gluten sensitivity.  All over there are blogs and tours and different campaigns to bring awareness to this disease, amd I am more than happy to jump on that bandwagon. 

Did you know that the average person in the US will take 6-10 years to be properly diagnosed with Celiacs??  That is a LONG time of painful and widespread symptoms! It took 14 years for me.  Believe me, the proper diagnosis makes a HUGE difference in life!!  Anyone that I talk to in the medical community I always tell them my story, and definitely push for them to do their own research.  If 1 in 133 people are gluten intolerant and 97% are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed...there are a lot of people out there that are unaware of what is really causing their health issues, and the majority are told either an incorrect diagnosis or that there is nothing really wrong with them.  It is very frustrating, and I hope that I can at least help one person....just as my cousin has done for me!

On the home front, I have chosen a name for the second chick.  She's the Plymouth Rock--the largest (and oldest) chick in our tiny flock.  Since she is the biggest and bossiest of the bunch, it only seemed proper (and probably unoriginal) for me to name her Attila the Hen.  Ha ha ha!!  I'm still cracking myself up!!  Ha ha...cracking!!!  LOL!!!

Early Mommy's Day Present

So this weekend, hubby was allowed out of his quarantine upstairs.  He's finally on the tail end of his cold, and little guy is about halfway through his antibiotics for his double ear infection.  I can't wait for that to be done...the antibiotics are causing bad diapers and now a rash.  :(
We did manage to get out this weekend.  We went to the store to get some more plants for my garden--we got watermelon, honeydew melon, pineapple basil, and a jalepeno plant--and then stop to visit my parents.  Got everything planted, a few tomatoes staked, and got to pick my first (non-insect ridden) tomato! Plus, a huge, previously unidentified squash-type plant finally started producing produce--and it is zucchini.  :)  Yay!

But the big news came after I had taken care of and expanded my garden.  An idea had planted itself in my head awhile back (<---like what I did there??  Planted...garden...hahaha!!), and I hadn't been able to uproot (LOL!!) it since.  So I asked for my Mother's Day present yesterday.  I called around to a few places in town and found a place that carried what I was looking for.  I told DH what I was wanting, and after Z took his nap, we set off to the store.  Which store?  The feed store.  Why?  Chicks, of course! 

That's right...I've decided to further my little "farm" by adding farm animals.  Three adorable little chicks are now part of our family!!

I've only named one of them--the yellow one.  Her name is Annie.  Why?  Because it was the first thing that popped into my head when I found out that she is an Orpington chicken.  Little Orpington Annie.  Haha!!  I am on a roll!!  The yellow/black/brown one is a silky chicken (she has feathers down her legs), and the bigger black/white/grey one is Plymouth Rock chicken.  All girls. 

So next for us to do is build a coop and a run for them to live in when they get a little older.  Right now they are housed in Z's play yard (we detached only four panels to make a square pen) in the garage.  We do have owls and hawks out here, so I don't want them out in the open just yet.  

Does anyone have ideas for a chicken coop?  I know we are most likely going to make our own, but I am also thinking of things that we can use to repurpose them.  Suggestions? Feel free to comment!  I would love to hear ideas!!